US Gives Access Bank N173.6 Billion To Finance Small Businesses in Nigeria
- Access Bank has gotten over N173.6 billion from the US International Development Finance Corporation
- The loan, according to the US agency, will be used to fund women-owned businesses in Nigeria and about 4,000 SMEs
- The bank stated that the loan would also be used to drive financial inclusion in the country while providing the the needed funding for small businesses
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Access Bank, one of the leading financial institutions in Nigeria, has gotten $280 million, about N173.6 billion, from a US agency, International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to help drive financial inclusion in Nigeria.
The deal was signed on Monday, July 25, 2022, in a commitment letter which sees the agency provide financing for Access Bank in Nigeria.
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Women owned-enterprises get a boost
According to Premium Times, the US agency provides secure private investment opportunities for developing markets.
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The agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Scott Nathan signed the letter alongside Access Bank’s Managing Director, Roosevelt Ogbonna.
The facility will help to address the small and medium-sized enterprises' funding gap and to advance financial inclusion in the country, according to a statement on Monday, July 25, 2022.
The letter also states that the loan will encourage the bank’s commitment to supporting women-owned businesses in Nigeria.
The letter says that the agency’s investment in the bank shows support for private sector-led development in Nigeria and in West Africa.
According to Nathan, the loan from the agency will boost financial inclusion in Nigeria and empower women, which will, in turn, boost Nigeria’s economic growth.
According to Ogbonna, the bank’s managing director, Access Bank is very pleased to announce the partnership with DFC to aid the myriads of businesses across the country which stand to benefit from greater access to funding.
Business Support
DFC financing for Access Bank will give the required funding given the global economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The loan will be used to support about 4,000 new SMEs in Nigeria. It will also be given to other entrepreneurs in other sectors in the Nigeria which focus on women-owned SMEs and loans with longer life span, giving more flexibility to borrowers.
Access Bank is one of the largest banks in Nigeria and has banking subsidiaries throughout Africa.
Citibank was the coordinator and arranger/co-lender in facilitating the loan.
Nigerian Banks witness mass resignation of tech engineers, as they move to Amazon, others
Legit.ng reported that Amazon’s entrance into the e-commerce space in Nigeria has left most Nigerian banks in the lurch, recent findings by Legit.ng reveal.
According to most tech engineers who spoke with Legit.ng, most of them resigned in droves as Amazon announced it is hiring tech-savvy Nigerians to handle its front-end software needs and customer queries.
Samson Ojekwe who spoke with Legit.ng said he resigned from one of the new generation banks after he applied and successfully got recruited to work with Amazon in Ireland.
Source: Legit.ng
